Anti Freeze leak

[smokin-6]

My new motor is leaking anti freeze. I have about 350 miles on it and no leaks but then I notice some coolant on my intercooler bracket. I have a CAS V4 SLIC and it uses a stud hooked to the bolt for the timing cover (right above the oil pan) and also the long bolt that goes thru the water pump into the block. The long bolt for the water pump is leaking at the end. I did put liquid paste on it when I put it together and didn't fill it with coolant for at least a week. Now it is weeping. I tightened it a 1/4 turn but no luck.

Is this allowing coolant to flow into my timing cover??

[Steve Wood]

If it is, you will see it as a milkshake in your oil

Drain the radiator partially, pull the stud out and reseal it....

[smokin-6]

I finally was able to pull the bolt today and reseal it. I think I may have torque it to the wrong specs. The timing chain cover to block torque is 22 ft lbs.  this long bolt goes through the water pump and the timing cover so I did it to 22 ft lbs. But then I see the water pump to cover is like half that. Maybe the bolt wasn't the problem maybe I over tightened the bolt and damaged the water pump gasket and that is what was leaking. Although it did not leak for the first 250 miles, it started to leak when my water temp got to 210 ( I was looking for a small drip so I let the temp climb to create more pressure).

What should the torque be for this bolt?

[Steve Wood]

I have never torqued the pump bolts, but, I use more like 22 lb-ft on the long bolt....

[earlbrown]

  this long bolt goes through the water pump and the timing cover so I did it to 22 ft lbs. But then I see the water pump to cover is like half that.

What should the torque be for this bolt?

The long bolts are 5/16-18 and threads into cast iron. The small waterpump bolts are 1/4-20 going into aluminum (use anti-seize on those). That's the reason for the different torque specs.

The long bolts go into the pressurized waterjacket of the block, if those threads leak, it'll fill up the bolt cavity in the timing cover and leak out below the head of the bolt. It can't milkshake your oil unless the leak can somehow breech into the timing chain area (doubtfull).
A GM seal tab will probably fix it from the inside but I'd tray and reseal it anyway and anti-seeze the shit out of the bolt shank. The LAST thing you want if for that bolt to corrode in place.

The bottom stud threads into a blind hole and there's no coolant anywhere near there. If it has coolant on it, it's most likely just accumulated there from the other leak.

[smokin-6]

OK, that makes me feel better. The long bolt I am using is stainless and I put a fair amount of sealant on the end. I will let it set/dry/whatever for a day or so until I fill it back up with coolant.

[earlbrown]

probably going to have to go the seal tab route now. The female threads are wet with coolant. Nothing sticks to antifreeze.


unless, of course, you're waterjackets have fine crud in them, then it'll seal itself after a week or so.

[smokin-6]

I drove the Buick around yesterday (about 40 miles) and it was still wet at the end of the bolt. So I drove up to the Chevy dealer and pick up some seal tabs. I popped in two of them and drove around for another 20 minutes. It was about 40 degrees outside and my coolant temp was 160-170.

Earl, how long does it take to seal? I hope it fixes this slow weep.

[earlbrown]

If they're going to seal, it should be done already. On a slow weep like that, one pressure/heat cycle should do it.
 Those seal tabs are pretty badass. I've got a 4.3 blazer that ran hot and blew both headgaskets into the waterjacket. 3 tabs later It's sealed up. I never would have thought they could pull that off.

Clean all the existing antifreeze residue off the outside of the engine and see if any comes back tomorrow.